CBD Energy Ltd., a Sydney-based renewable-energy developer, plans to expand along the U.S. East Coast after completing the purchase of a solar company in North Carolina and selling shares in the U.S.

CBD Energy sold 1.8 million shares for $4 each. They began trading today on the Nasdaq Capital Market and no longer trade over the counter. The company will receive about $6 million in net proceeds, according to a statement.

CBD is no longer listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, Chairman Gerry McGowan said in a telephone interview. Moving to a U.S. exchange will help the company raise capital.

“We’ve seen the U.S. understands renewables very well, and it’s been well received in the financial community,” he said in an interview. “The Australian market is really a mining exchange -- it doesn’t have the cleantech market -- which is why we delisted from there.”

CBD Energy licensed technology from Westinghouse Solar Inc. that it will sell to homeowners in the U.S., where about 1 percent of homes have rooftop systems, compared with 15 percent in Australia, McGowan said. He plans to start in Massachusetts and expand along the East Coast from there.

“When you’re seeing solar able to compete with fossil-fuel generation, people see that there’s a market for it,” he said.

CBD Energy expects to close the purchase of Green Earth Developers LLC, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based provider of solar-energy services to commercial and utility customers, as soon as next week, McGowan said. CBD Energy raised 7.5 million pounds ($12.7 million) in December to develop commercial-scale projects in the U.K.